Axminster fabric



June 19, 1951 P. MILLER AXMINSTER FABRIC Filed Feb. 18, 1949 u) Pff/.4 /P ffm/.ER

Cttorneg Patented `lune 19, 195,1

AxMiNs'rEn FABRIC Philip Miller, Yonkers, N. Y., assignor to Alexander Smith & Sons Carpet Company, Yonkers,

. Y., a corporation of Application February 1s, 1949, serial No. 77,103

1 Claim.

This invention relates to pile fabrics, such as rugs or carpets, for floor covering and more particularly to an Axminster weave in which a design is formed by a combination of pile yarns having different degrees of twist.

An object of the invention is to produce an Axminster weave having a sculptured appearance with pile of uniform height.

Another object is to provide a method of weaving high twist pile on an Axminster loom.

Another object is to provide a novel and improved method for forming a design in an Axminster floor covering which method is claimed in my divisional application S. N. 141,677, led February l, 1950.

Anotherobject is to provide an Axminster weave having a novel and improved appearance.

Various other objects and advantages will be apparent as the nature of the invention is more fully disclosed.

It has heretofore been impractical to weave highly twisted frieze yarn. that is twisted to an extent to cause a cockle in the yarn, as pile on an Axminster loom because the yarn ends protruding from the tubes of the loom spools must be sufficiently straight to pass between the warp as the spools are brought into weaving position. 'I'he cockled frieze yarn tends to curl over on the warp or into the space between neighboring warp instead of entering the proper warp spaces. This has been a limiting factor in selecting pile yarn for such looms.

The present invention avoids this difficulty and makes it possible to weave highly twisted yarns either as the background or as the pattern in combination with the less highly twisted yarns to produce a contrast when both yarns are of the same color and the pile are all of the same height.

More specifically the highly twisted yarn first wound on cheeses or spindles under a suiii` cient tension to straighten out the cockle and, while held under tension, the cheeses are treated to set the twist. The yarn then remains straight after the tension has been relieved and may be set and wound on the loom spools and woven on Axminster looms in the usual manner.

In the finished fabric the highly twisted yarn retains its hard, compact finish while the less highly twisted pile tufts spread out to form a more complete covering. The contrast between the soft, uniform appearance of the latter pile tufts with the hard pebbled appearance of the hard twist areas produces a Sculptured appearance.

The novel features of the invention will be New York better understood from the following ldetailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings in which a specific embodiment has been *set forth for purposes of illustration.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a ow diagram illustrating the steps in the process;

Fig. 2 is -a plan view of a portion of a typical floor covering embodying the invention; and

Fig. 3 is an enlarged vertical section through a finished fabric taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2.

Referring to the drawings more in detail, Fig. 3 illustrates a typical Axminster weave which includes three double weft or filler shots I0, II. and I2 for each row of pile tufts I4, two stuier yarns I5 and I6, and a chain yarn I1. It is to be understood that the weave may be varied as in standard Axminster practice-and that a specific arrangement has been shown for purposes of illustration only. In any case the weave is characterized by groups of three double filler shots and a suitable number of stuifer yarns and chain yarns to bind the rows of tufts. In accordance with standard practice the pile yarns are set on an Axminster setting frame in accordance with the selected design and the yarns for the various pile tufts of each row are wound on separate spools having tubes from which the ends project for weaving. lAfter a row of tufts has been woven into the backing, the ends are cut and the next spool is brought into weaving position.

In accordance with this invention the high twist yarns and the low twist yarns are wound on the spools to form the patterns. The low twist or soft yarns are formed in the usual manner. The high twist yarns are formed by the steps indicated in Fig. l. The yarns are first twisted on the spinning frames to impart a twist of 5 to l0 turns per inch, depending upon the size of the yarn, suilicient twist being given to cause the yarn to tend to cockle or curl when the tension is relieved. For example, in a wool pile yarn of approximately 600 yards per pound seven turns per inch may be used.

The yarn is then wound in packages (cheese or spindle) under sufficient tension to straighten out the cockle or curl and the package is then placed in a steam vessel where it is subjected to saturated steam at elevated pressure, i.` e. 30 pounds per square inch until the twist has set so that the yarn retains its straight, hard twisted form when the ytension is relieved. The yarn may be dyed either on the cheese or in skein form while still held under tension.

This high twist set yarn is then wound on the loom spools and woven in the usual man ner on the Axminster loom. The resultant fabric includes low twist tufts I4 and high twist tufts 20, as shown in Fig. 3. I'he low twist tufts I4 spread out over the surface as indicated to' form the usual soft background coverage. The high twist tufts 20 retain their twisted form to produce a pebbled effect which contrasts with the full coverage effect of the low twist tufts.

The effect of this combination is illustrated in Fig. 2 wherein the low twist pile Il constitutes the background and the high twist pile 20 the design. Obviously these elements could be reversed.

In order to set of the design in a more distinctive manner. a row of ftufts may be omitted around the border of the design, The contrasting yarns may have the same degree of pleasing appearance simulating Sculptured ef' fects. Of course contrasting colors may be used if desired.

The invention is not restricted to the specific form shown, but may be applied to various uses as will be apparent to a person skilled in the art.

What is claimed is:

An Axminster pile fabric comprising groups of double weft shots, stufl'er yarns and chain yarn forming a woven backing and rows of pile tufts bound in said groups of weft shots, said fabric having warpwise aligned portions in which the pile consists of yarn so highly twisted that it would cockle or coil if relaxed and being set in straight uncockled form by treatment equivalent to steaming in a closed vessel with saturated steam at elevated pressure until the twist has set so that the yarn retains its straight hard twisted form when the tension is relieved, said yarn being formed into U- shaped pile tufts having uncockled vertical legs with cut ends uniformly disposed over the surface of the fabric and having low covering power to produce a pebbly appearance, said portions being separated by other portions in which the pile consists of U-shaped pile tufts consisting of low twist yam having high covering power, said pile tufts all being of the same height and being disposed in different areas selected to conform to a predetermined pattern.

PHILIP NHLLER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,815,027 Murch July 14, 1931 1,823,034 Dworsky Sept. 15, 1931 1,823,053 Lawton Sept. 15, 1931 1,849,550 Phoenix Mar. 15, 1932 1,927,810 Shaw Sept. 19, 1933 1,944,534 Underwood Jan. 23, 1934 2,058,948 Blumenthal Oct. 27, 1936 2,121,909 Fonda Aug. 31, 1937 2,212,744 Masland Aug. 27, 1940 2,421,335 Kline May 27, 1947 2,421,336 Kline May 27, 1947 2,430,425 Jackson Nov. 4, 1947 2,465,130 Story Mar. 22, 1949 2,479,478 Day Aug. 16, 1949 2,499,444 Allison Mar. 7, 1950 2,509,350 Jackson May 30, 1950 2,509,352 Reinhardt et al. May 30, 1950 OTHER REFERENCES Textile World, September 1946, Dielectric Heating (pages 139, 141, 216, 220 and 224). 

